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Monday, December 31, 2012

It’s New Year’s Eve, so there is nothing better to do, but to list the
remaining top5 decks of the current format. If the top10-top6 wasn’t surprising
for you, I’m sure that the top5 will include some big surprises for everyone.
The only thing that I think you won’t be surprised of is the number one (or who
knows, maybe you are?!).

My Japan’s trip will be closing in, but I’ll hopefully be able to make at least
one entry before going to Japan and then bring some really great information
from Japan when I get back from the trip. I hope everyone has a great New Year –
I’m sure I’ll have a blast as soon as I get this entry released!

Thursday, December 27, 2012

I hope everyone had a great Christmas holidays! However, now Christmas is over
and New Year is closing in. New Year is always time for all kinds of lists. For
the first time, I also decided to give a try for list-making. Today, I’ll be
discussing the top10 decks of the current format – in my opinion. I’m never
done anything like this, so I’m pretty excited how it will turn out and what
you think about it!

I’m sure that everyone has their own point of view to the top decks of the
current format, so I hope this creates discussion and that you let me know if
you disagree with anything and maybe showcase your own list! I hope you enjoy.

When I made the list, I was very surprised how difficult it was to make. It
seemed like I always missed some deck or that I wasn’t really sure about the
order of the deck. However, in the end, I managed to do a list that I feel very
comfortable presenting to you and that clearly reflects my opinion about the
current format. Anyways, this is a two-part entry. This first entry will
include the first half of the list while the other half will be released on
upcoming Monday.

Monday, December 24, 2012

Just like last year, I want to wish every single one of you a great Christmas with a Christmas card of my own making. I hope this delights your Christmas and that everyone has the best Christmas and new year ever!

Monday, December 17, 2012

Sorry for the lack of updates last week, but my life i so hectic at the moment
that I haven’t almost had time for even playing Pokémon TCG. However, as my
Japanese trip is nearing, things will change after that. For now, let’s take a
look at the deck analysis of today. The deck I will discuss today have done
fairly well in CCs and in the beginning of CC-season, I thought it wouldn’t
make much of an impact since Ether wasn’t released. Surprisingly though, the
deck stand against the metagame decks and become a tier1 (or a tier2 at least).

In this entry, I’ll take a look at two kinds of Darkrai/Landorus builds: the
standard build and the build I was going to play in Cities, but couldn’t,
because I didn’t get my hands on Landorus EXs. At this point of the season it’s
easy to say that Landorus EX is one of the most dominant forces in the
metagame, so I hope this entry will help you to recognize the strengths and
weaknesses of these builds.

Thursday, December 6, 2012

I have exam week this week, so I won’t probably be able to write an article
this week, but thankfully I got an article from The Deck Out’s 3rd
featured writer – Axel Sonnleitner from Germany. I’m very happy that Axel was
able to write for The Deck Out since he’s from Europe and I like to give
chances to European players to show what they are really made of. I really
enjoyed Axel’s article and I’m sure you do as well.

Anyways, I’ll let Axel introduce himself since I’m as new with him as you guys
probably are. As always, feel free to ask any questions regarding the deck and
I’m sure Axel is ready to answer them. Also, let me know what you thought about
the article and if these occasional featured writers are a good idea (I think
they are!)

Monday, December 3, 2012

Yesterday I played in a tournament. That’s right –
played! It was my first tournament in a month so I was pretty excited! This is
a tournament report from that tournament. I’ll have special treat for you guys
later on this week as well, as I have my 3rd featured writer ever
make his debut in my blog!

I was pretty clueless on what to play since I don’t have any cards from
Boundaries Crossed (it’s a joke you know). So, I was forced to play something
good but old. And what is good and old? (Especially for me). Well, Hammertime
of course! I wasn’t completely sold on if Hammertime was a good play, but since
I couldn’t afford to a “better” deck (i.e. more expensive deck), I was just
going to make most of what I could. And in the end the result were more than
satisfying! I won’t spoil you with details, so let’s just start with the list.

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

I
finally had time to put all of these lists together as I've been
testing pretty intensely the past few weeks. As always, let me know of
any calculations errors/typos or anything else in The Decklist Out. The
Decklist Out is meant completely for you, so I want it to be as smooth
to read as possible. Also, if you feel like there is any list missing
from the list, let me know and I'll consider if I'll add it!

Also,
for those who didn't know yet, I'm going to visit Tokyo in early
January and will hopefully be able to visit local league(s) there and
discuss with some people and watch Japanese players play games. I'll try
to take lots of pictures as well!

To keep yourself up-to-date about my tournament season and my Japan's trip, remember to follow me on Twitter and Facebook!

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

The – in my opinion – real Pokémon TCG season has finally started thanks to
City Championships! Last weekend was the first weekend of Cities, so we don’t
have a full point of view to how the metagame really looks like. One thing’s
for sure either way – the current format is very versatile. In fact, the
current format seems a lot more versatile than I first thought it would look
like. Everything from Eelektriks to Garchomp/Landorus EXs has been winning the
tournaments. I’m sure the metagame will get more focused during the weeks of
Cities, but for now let’s enjoy for the good format.

Anyways, today, I’m going back to basics and discussing Darkrai variants.
Included in this entry will be of course my new Hammertime variant, Speed
Darkrai variantand the a lot discussed
Darkrai/Fighting. Also, if you haven’t yet seen the Gym Challenge winning
decklists from Japan that included one very interesting Darkrai EX variant,
I’ll take a quick look at it as well.

So, lots of lists and analysis. I’m feeling like writing an UG article! So,
let’s start with the Japanese winning list, if you hadn’t seen it yet!

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Today, I’m going to take a look at a deck that can be called old school,
because it has so many predecessors in the past formats. Rain Dance –like
Abilities have been around from the Base Set and they have always been
tournament-winning concepts. I expect nothing less from the new Boundaries
Crossed Blastoise – even though its Ability’s name is Deluge, not Rain Dance.

Blastoise has been one of the most discussed cards of BC ever since it was
released in Japan, because of its history. However, it hasn’t really been that
successful in the Japan. What is the reason behind this and is it going to
break its way to the tier1 in the west? I’ll answer these questions and more in
this article. I’ll take a look at many different Blastoise variants and discuss
which techs are the best and why.

Monday, November 5, 2012

Today’s article will be very unorthodox article for me, because I’ll be
concentrating on one card and one card only. The card is Ditto from Boundaries
Crossed. What was the reason, why I chose Ditto? You know that I’ve made
articles of single cards like Mewtwo EX in the past, but Ditto is nowhere as
good as Mewtwo EX – or is it? I don’t think these two cards can even be
compared, because they have so different functions in their decks.

However, the reason why I chose Ditto for this article was simple – it’s one of
the most controversial cards of the new set and has caused a lot of discussion.
Some players – like myself- have been hyping it, some have been saying that it
just isn’t good enough card to put into a deck and some don’t really know what
to think about it. No matter, what’s your opinion, I hope I’ll be able to give
you some food for thought about Ditto. Also, for those who are still wondering
what’s with all this discussion about Ditto, I’ll hopefully be able to provide
a throughout guide to how and why correctly play Ditto. I've got SO many questions about Ditto from players all over the world that I believe this entry will answer all the answers I have received and more!

Monday, October 29, 2012

As Pokebeach.com has finally released all of the scans from Boundaries Crossed,
we now all the cards of the set, which means it’s time for another Impact
Crater! I’m glad that I didn’t do an Impact Crater earlier about the Boundaries
Crossed, because as you know it missed some key cards when compared to the
Japanese Freeze Bolt set. However, even though the loss of some cards really
hindered the playability of the set, the set still surprising amount of
playable and especially interesting cards. Interesting doesn’t necessarily
equal competitive, but you have to start from something, right?

As you know, in Impact Crater, I analyze all the most playable and the
interesting cards and since the set has 150 cards, this Impact Crater also
includes a big bunch of cards. I was positively surprised just how many
interesting cards the set has even though I’m still very disappointed due the
lack of cards like Ether, Escape Rope and Bicycle. As there are so many cards I
need to take a look at, let’s get going!

Monday, October 22, 2012

It’s been a while since my last Eye on Japan article, and as Regionals were
just played and so were Battle Roads, I thought it would be a great time for
another Eye on Japan. I’ve been discussing about both formats with Yuki, the
BW- Boundaries Crossed and the BW- Plasma Gale format. However, in this article
I’ll concentrate on the format, which is more important for everyone in the
near future – the BW – Boundaries Crossed format.

The article will include lists that are the most interesting in my opinion.
They all include one of the best cards that will be released in Boundaries
Crossed – Landorus EX. Anyways, I’ve also decided that I’ll try to get a more
in-depth with Japan by interviewing the local players (older and younger
players) with the help of Yuki and I’m asking you, if there is anything you
would like to ask from a Japanese players. Send me a question request on

Rant: I wrote this article before Ether was revealed not to be released in the new set, so I apologize for the Decklists that have the Ether/Pokédex engine. However, there are other things in this article as well and not just the deck lists so I hope you still enjoy.

There are lots of interesting things on the way, so without further chit-chat,
let’s get in the business.

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Today, I’m going to take a look at the winning deck lists of Finnish Battle
Roads. Thankfully there were a lot of variety among the deck. Ok, saying “a
lot” is exaggerating, but let’s just say that there was enough variety to make
the tournament enjoyable. In this entry, I’ll take a look at the top4 decks of
the Masters Division AND the winner list of Seniors. I wanted to take the
Seniors winning deck to this entry, because I really enjoy the deck’s concept
and I was positively surprised when I saw the decklist.

I know Boundaries Crossed is just right behind the corner and Eye on Japan will
be coming on Monday, but I still wanted to take one more look at the present
format, before we look to the future. We’ll be playing the BW-BC format for
over 3 months and all the City Championships, so I’m pretty sure everyone will
get everything out of the new format in time. Also, to understand the present,
it’s important to understand the past – that’s why looking at for example
BW-Dragons Exalted Hydreigon/Darkrai EX and comparing it to the upcoming
Hydreigon lists, makes us understand the very roots of deck building.

Once again, thanks for the players that gave me the permission to use their
lists! There will be 5 decklist analyses in total, so it’s quite a ride we’re
going to have.

Monday, October 15, 2012

As promised, it’s time for my very first tournament
report of the season. There have been a few Battle Roads in Finland before, but
I have only attended one before this tournament – as a head judge of the
tournament. Anyways, this entry will include my tournament report with the very
expected rogue I promised to play.

I’ll try to get my hands on the winning deck lists from each tournament series,
so I can be able to show you not only my competitive deck lists, but also decks
that have been proven to be working in a tournament play while showing another
way to build deck lists – not just my way of building them. That’s why I’ll later
on this week analyze the Battle Roads winning deck lists from our local
players. Thank you for everyone for giving me a permission to use your lists in
my blog!

Also, as said on Facebookand Twitter, I’ll
try to get the first Eye on Japan of this season released this week, so be sure
to look for it. I have a pretty busy schedule this week, so it’s scheduled to
be released next Monday t. Now, on to the report!

Monday, October 8, 2012

The first Regionals are closing in and everyone should start preparing for
them. For international players like me, there are still Battle Roads, which
you can go to. Today’s article will discuss the most successful (and played)
variants of Battle Roads – Eelektrik variants. In this article, I’ll take a
look at three different Eelektrik variants: the most played Zeels variant, the
most successful Rayquaza/Eelektrik variant and also the very interesting
Eelektrik/Techs deck.

If you aren’t yet settled with your deck choice for your upcoming, give a good
read for this entry, because I’m sure that everyone can agree on just how good
and versatile can Eelektrik decks be when tweaked a lot. Eelektrik decks will
also be around for the whole season, so if you’re looking for a deck that you
can play throughout the season, Eelektrik is a very good option.

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Today I¨ll have a featured writer to do the job for me! You may be familiar with Matijs Moree, who wrote almost a year ago his first article to The Deck Out. He is a very good friend of mine and like me he enjoys rogue deck building. However, this season Matijs has decided to take things a bit more seriously and has a Worlds invite as his goal. Getting a Worlds invite in a country like the Netherlands, which has a lot of great players is a difficult task, so Matijs has changed his strategy and played a metagame deck in Battle Roads. You can say he has changed to the Dark Side (literally).

I´m glad that the article will discuss Darkai EX variant, because - in my opinion - Darkrai EX is underdiscussed in the current Internet debate. Darkrai EX is one of the strongest attackers out there and gives trouble to any tier1 deck.

If YOU are willing to write an article to The Deck Out, send me an e-mail to: thedeckout@gmail.com or hit me on Facebook or Twitter. Somehow I managed to lost all the previous e-mails that everyone send to me, so send them again! Anyways, now I give the stage to Matijs' article.

Thursday, September 27, 2012

I’ve finally made – updated The Decklist Out to match the current format. When
I did it I understood how many competitive decks there really were in the past
format compared to the current format. If I was going to win a tournament,
there would only be 3 different decks, I would choose from. All the decks that
are in “the hottest decks now” section are good deck choices for a highly
competitive player. I’ve also spent a long time testing all the lists in this
update, so I hope you make the most out of them.

If you notice any errors in the lists, just let me know. Also, if you feel like
some deck is missing from the list, let me know, so I can add it to there. The new
set is coming in the near future, so The Decklist Out will be edited soon after
that one, just after the U.S. Regionals.

I know many of you are waiting for an Eye on Japan – entry, so I’ll try to make
a new one soon. I’ll also try something new for the Eye on Japan –entries, so I
hope you’ll like it. Maybe I’ll finally get an interview from a Japanese player.

Monday, September 24, 2012

First
of all, sorry for the lack of updates. I fell ill for the first time in
3 years and have been having a fever during the whole last week. I was
able to finish my UG article just in time, which I used all of my power
for. What I was surprised for, was that writing English becomes pretty
challenging when you’re sick and you have a headache. However, the week
was pretty productive for me nonetheless since I was able to read The
Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers (finished it today), Percy
Jackson and the Lightning Thief, The Golden Compass, and The City of
Dreaming Books. Last week I probably read more books than I have ever
read during my whole life, haha.

I was also in Battle Roads the
last weekend, but I judged instead of playing. That’s why there was no
report from that Battle Roads. Also, I was supposed to attend Battle
Roads this weekend, but as I missed the train, I missed the tournament
as well. In this article, I will analyze the deck I was supposed to play
in that Battle Roads. As promised, I'm going to play more rogue this
season than last season and this tournament was no different.

Monday, September 10, 2012

Sorry for the lateness of the article. I still don’t have an apartment from my
study city and it may very well be that I don’t have an apartment from my study
city until November! That would be a nightmare. And since I’m having the first
two weeks in my new university, I have been a lot less on computer than I was
last season. However, now I’m finally finished with the article, so I hope you
enjoy it!

Anyways, today is a remarkable day, because today, I’ll be releasing my first
BW-on entry. And what could be a better topic for the first entry than one of
the most contradictable cards of Dragons Exalted – Garbodor. In this entry,
I’ll discuss Garbodor and ability-lockers in general as well as Garbodor
variants that are bound to be popular in the early season.

As I promised, I’ll try to bring new depth to my articles while the article
quantity decreases, so after reading this, let me know what you think about my
renewed article style. Of course not all the articles will be like this, but
I’ll be changing article formats just like I do with my SixPrizes Underground
articles. Also, as the new season gets to start, let me also know what decks
and things you want to get analyzed. By giving me your ideas, it will help both
me to come up with good articles while giving you good reading experience!

Anyways, let’s get in to the main topic of this article – Garbodor (or in fact Trubbishses).

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

It’s about time to restart my blog, don’t you think?
In the past few week I’ve been chilling (in fact, I’ve been working the whole
time), but at least I’ve chilling off blog. As you have noticed, I’ve asked
your opinion about a lot of things considering the next season of my blog. I
must thank every and each one of you for answering my questions and giving me
your precious opinion. That has helped me greatly with renewing my blog for
this season.

First, I asked you what kind of content you would like to read from my blog.
The answers were what I expected: things from Japan, in-depth quality articles
and of course rogue articles. Second, I asked you how many articles you think
is enough per week and if I should have more featured writers. I’m very happy
that almost everyone appreciated quality over quantity and the main consensus
was 1-2 articles per week. That is manageable for me while maintaining the high
quality of the articles (even without featured writers!). I was very happy when
I heard that most of you were satisfied with one quality article per week. However,
there was a big yes to occasional and even monthly featured writers as well.

This is where this entry comes in. I’m in a need of high-quality featured
writers. I think I’ll have a quest writer each month or every other month. I’m
not quite sure about the amount yet, but I know I need more. Of course, I’ll
first ask help from my fellow Finnish players (including Kumis), but I know I
need you guys also. So, if you’re interested in writing to the front page of
The Deck Out shoot me with an e-mail to: thedeckout@gmail.com

Since I know that what makes my blog special is that most of things are
discussed from my (subjective) point of view, I won’t be having too many
featured writers. However, if you’re interested in writing to The Deck Out,
here are the things I hope from you and your article:

- The topic of the article is timeless and interesting
- The topic of the article creates discussion (and maybe even criticism)
- No theorymon – your own experiences
- You’ll be able to write the article, you promised to write

What I DON’T expect from you (what
most other sites do):

- Perfect grammar (you know how my grammar is since I’m Finnish so I can’t
expect more from you)
- Accomplishments of any kind in Pokémon TCG

So, if you’re interested, let me know!

As for my articles, first entry considering BW-on, will be released tomorrow,
so be sure to check it out!

Monday, August 27, 2012

September is closing and so is my blog’s first entry for the 2012-2013 season, but before that I would like to hear your opinions once again for something. Week ago I asked you how should my content change next season. I must thank everyone for being active since thanks to you, it became clear to me what the main things I should concentrate on in the upcoming season are. From last poll, these 3 things were the most voted:

- More rogue articles!
- More things from Japan!
- More in-depth articles!

It’s pretty clear that what you want from my blog: high-quality content what you can’t find from anywhere else. Of course this means that I must use more time writing and making research for each entry and that’s why I make this second poll. There are two questions, so I hope you’ll pick one answer for both questions. The questions are:

- How many entries should I release per week?
And
- Should I use more featured writers, so I could get more entries?

Remember, more entries per week will mean less-in depth articles, while less entries per week will mean more in-depth articles. Also, featured writers may lead to the increase of quality or decrease of quality. There are always risks when it comes to featured writers.

That in mind, let me know by voting and commenting just like last time. Remember, I write for you, so I want to know what you want me to write about!

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

I said that I would take a 2-week break before continuing my blog, but of course I couldn’t do that completely. The new tournament season is going to start very soon and the new season always brings new things (like for example Battle Roads without top cut). I’m also hoping to reach the freshness of the new season with my blog. However, for that I need YOUR input.

What do you want me to write about? Did you enjoy the last season and hope that I’ll mostly concentrate on analysis of metagame? Or do you want me to take more rogue-ish point of view in my articles? Would you like still like to see Eye on Japan articles, even though Japan is covered on the other sites as well? Are there any article types you would like me to write, but haven’t seen me to write yet?
To make things easier, you are able to vote in a poll on the right. However, it would be great if I could hear your opinions about what kind of content you would like me to provide.

You can reach me with comments on this entry
with e-mail to: thedeckout@gmail.com
with My Facebook
and with My Twitter

I hope I am able to provide great Pokémon TCG info this season, just like last season!

Thursday, August 16, 2012

So, Worlds are over and the new World Champions are
crowned once again. Even though my results from both – the World Championships
and The Top Cut Invitational – were what I would call horrible, the whole
Worlds experience was my best so far. That’s a lot to say since these Worlds
were my 7th Worlds.

At the moment, I’m still jet-lagging a lot (a 27-hour flight combined to 13
hour time difference takes time to recover). However, I wanted to get the
report up as soon as possible so I can concentrate fully on next season as soon
as possible. I’ll be posting this report to my blog, SixPrizes and Pokegym.net
since I think it will be an interesting read for everyone. In advance I want
you to forgive me for every single grammar error, I’m going to make in this
report. Yes, I’m going to make a lot of those.

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

I’m writing this entry from the sunny Hawaii. We
arrived to Hawaii two days ago (on Saturday evening). I’m still trying to
survive from a bit of a jet lag, so I could be at 100% in the World Championships.
Worlds are only 5 days away and I simply can’t wait for it!

This week will probably be the most exciting week of 2012 for me. Last week, my
laptop decided to broke down, so I had to bring my girlfriend’s IPad (I hate
typing with touch screen) with me, so I could keep updating my blog, Facebook
and Twitter. I hope you will join me in Facebook and Twitter during my journey
in World Championships and The Top Cut Invitational. I’ll try to update my
result after every round if I can get an access to the Internet. Here are the
channels, you can follow me from:

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

First of all, I've gotten a ton of questions how my name is pronounced. It's a short name, but it's very challenging to pronounce if you aren't Finnish. I have heard so many variations of my name that I didn't even know that my could be pronounced in that many ways! Anyways, if you click this link: Esa and press the speaker button, it will pronounce the name as close as the real pronounciation as possible with Google translate.

Also, my laptop just broke down, so I this entry was delayed a bit. This
also means that I have to take my gf’s IPad with me to Hawaii to be able to
update my Facebook and Twitter. I hate typing with touch screen, but I do what
I got to do since I’ll try to update FB and Twitter between every round, so
anyone not going to Worlds can follow my tournament run in real-time.

Just a week ago, I was pretty sure that this entry would be about
Garchomp/Altaria. However, the more I thought about it, the more absurd the
idea grew. I’ve only played a handful of games with the deck and don’t really
have any too in-depth thoughts about it. I want to offer the best for you, so
I’ll start analyzing BW-on when I myself am testing it.

This leads me to the main topic of this entry – the last hurray of the HGSS-on
format- the 2012 World Championships. I’ve already made a mass entry about
World Championships for the UG, so in this entry I’ll concentrate on things
that I didn’t concentrate so much on in the UG article. It’s good to brainstorm
once in a while, so this entry will probably be my most “bloggish” entry so far
with just everything that pops up into my head while writing.

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Today I got some very exciting news from Kyle "Pooka" Sucevich of The Top Cut. Last year The Top Cut hold a tournament called "The Top Cut Invitational" after the Worlds 2011, which included 8 of the worlds' best players. These players included for example the two time World Champion Jason Klaczynski, the legendary Japanese player Tsuguyoshi Yamato among other great players.

This year The Top Cut team will hold the tournament once again and this year the invitation list looks like this:

- Jason Klaczynski (2-time World Champion)
- Tsuguyoshi Yamato (World Champion and 1 time top 4 in the Worlds)
- Sami Sekkoum (Multiple times the U.K. Nats winner and World top cutter)
- Yuta Komatsuda (World Champion and 1 time top 4 in the Worlds)
- John Roberts II (The U.S. National Champion of this year)
- David Cohen (Last year's World Champion)
- Esa Juntunen (Me?)
- Tom Dolezal (Worlds top4 and multiple times Nationals top cutter)

So, as you can see, I was invited to the tournament full of elite players! I can't really describe how honored I was to get the invite to this tournament. I know there are tons of players that disagree with the decision that I was invited to the tournament, so I'm very grateful for The Top Cut staff for inviting me.

Monday, July 23, 2012

It's only 3 weeks to Worlds and the heat is on! In fact, in my 9 year career, I've been never as excited about Worlds as this year. Although I haven't been testing as much as in the first years, I feel more ready than ever. The 3rd annual Kettus-camp took place last weekend in Pälkäne and the whole Finnish team was there once again.

This time the whole team was very concentrated on Pokémon and even though we got a set-back for our Master team(the Finnish CP winner Jouni Lehtinen can't come to Worlds due military service), the team is all set-upped for the tournament. Everyone has chose their decks (except me and the 2006 World Champion Miska Saari). Even though I haven't yet chosen my deck, I already have ruled out many decks. I'll probably make the final decision on the spot in Hawaii, when looking at the Grinder metagame.

Anyways, here are the pictures from Kettus-camp that me and Ville V. took. You'll notice that the way to become a true Champion is filled with sweat and tears. I hope you enjoy the pictures and get to the Worlds-mode if you already aren't!

Monday, July 16, 2012

It’s finally time to begin the BW-on era in my deck articles. I’m obviously
preparing for Worlds, but thankfully the deck I’m going to analyze today, is
very close to Nationals winning deck – Klinklang. I’ve tested the deck
moderately and in BW-on environment it works like a dream.

As you know if you are a regular visitor of my blog, the deck I’m talking about
won the Worlds Qualifiers in Japan. In this article, the list I’ll analyze
differs only a few cards from the winning list since the winning list was a
very good list (obviously it wouldn’t have won, if it was a bad list!).

Anyways, that’s for the introduction; let’s start by looking at the list.(All
the translations are from the Pokebeach, by the way).

Friday, July 13, 2012

It’s exciting news. Pokémon Company International finally released the prize
support for Worlds 2012 and to everyone’s surprise, they were changed! I’m more
than excited about Worlds now since it seems that PCI wants Worlds to be THE tournament
of every season. I think Worlds deserve to be the highlight of Pokemon TCG
season and these changes to prize support makes Worlds THE tournament to win.

If I wasn’t already excited about Worlds, now I am! I’ve copypasted the prize
support from Worlds’ site, so here they are. And remember, these prizes apply
to each age group.

Monday, July 9, 2012

The 7th annual Miska-camp took place this weekend. Miska-camp is a place
where Finnish players gather and test for Worlds. At first it was only
for testing and we played very hardcorely at least 8 hours a day while
fixing our decks. However, over time other activities have taken over
Pokémon TCG and Miska-camp is nowadays much more than just a Poké-camp.

I tested enough in the Miska-camp and even though I haven't decided my
Worlds deck yet, I'm pretty certain of, which decks will do well. In
this entry, I won't be analyzing any metagame for you, but show you how
Finnish players prepare for Worlds. This is a good recipe since Finland
has 2 World Champions, 4 top4 placements and 8 top8 placements in the
history of World Championships!

Here are the pictures I and Ville V. took from this year's Miska-camp. Check the pictures from the entry below this. Click the pictures to enlarge. Enjoy.

Thursday, July 5, 2012

It’s true – this is my 100th entry and this is the entry that I’ve been
implying to for a while now. When I first started my blog, I would’ve never
believed that I could get this far with my blog. A long time I debated, if I
should write on Finnish or in English and in the end I decided to write in
English. I’m glad that I did. If you have been following my blog for the very
beginning, it must have been interesting to see how my entries have developed
during time.

Since this is the 100th entry and since I love statistics, I’ve gathered some
interesting statistics from my blog during the 100 entry-span. I’ll also walk through
the remarkable dates that were important for my blog’s popularity and that have
greatly affected the wide-spread conspicuousness of my blog. I’ll also tell you about how the
idea of my own blog came to me. I know this might not be useful information,
but thankfully it’s fun and interesting information! (At least in my opinion!).

So, let’s start dig deep in the past to the first
remarkable day of my blog. I hope you enjoy!

Monday, July 2, 2012

In the U.S. Nationals Klinklang didn't need
to Grind its way through (pun intended)

Hello everyone!

The last Nationals were played this weekend and what a weekend it was. A huge
variety of decks took the top spot of the last 4 National Championships of this
season. These 4 tournaments include Portugal, The United Kingdom, Canada and of
course The United States. In this entry, I’ll mostly focus on the results of
the U.S. Nationals and to all the past Nationals before it.

Also, as you know, I asked you to vote if you want me to write about BW-on
decks or HGSS-on decks after last Nationals. The consensus among readers was
pretty clear, over 80% of you want me to write about BW-on decks. However, some
of you wanted me to make a breakdown of the U.S. Nationals, so players going to
Worlds can get something out of my blog as well. I thought it was a great idea,
so this will be my very last entry of HGSS-on format (excluding my Worlds
report of course). I’ll be doing 1-2 entries for SixPrizes UG before Worlds, so
if you are going to Worlds and want to learn about my opinion about World
Championships metagame etc., tune into SixPrizes.

Before Worlds, I’ll only probably make 1-2 entries per week, because I’ll spend
so much time play testing for Worlds (all my free time that is). I will go to
Hawaii 4th of August, so after that you’ll probably only hear from
me once in a while in Facebook or Twitter. It may be that I’ll sometimes update
my status on my blog as well. But if you aren’t yet following me on
Facebook/Twitter, now it’s the time to join, if you want to hear about my
Worlds experience in real time.

Anyways, let’s get on-topic. The results of National Championships and how do I see them.

Monday, June 25, 2012

The last (and biggest) Nationals are just around the corner and since it’ll be the last big
tournament of the year for many of you, in this entry I’ll concentrate on the
most popular decks of the upcoming weekend, and how they have changed from the
old lists. I’ll also be discussing about Vanilluxe since I’ve gotten so many
requests about it and because it has surprised many players by doing great in
Battle Roads and international Nationals. Just last weekend a Vanilluxe deck
won the Nationals of Czech Republic. In the end, I’ll also reveal my top3 tech
choices for this weekend’s Nationals.

This may be the last entry of mine about HGSS-on format depending on your
comments and requests. I know that many of you are already concentrating on
BW-on format, if you aren’t attending Worlds this year, and since Worlds will
be only for a small amount of people, I don’t think it would benefit anyone to
write about HGSS-on format after this weekend. However, about that later on in
this entry.

Anyways, let’s start this entry by discussing the most hyped deck of the moment
– Darkrai.

Monday, June 18, 2012

As I have covered all the played Darkrai EX decks (or have I –let me know if I
haven’t!), it’s time for a different kind of deck. This deck has done fairly
well in Battle Roads and I believe that this deck has potential for more as
well. So far, Empoleon/Terrakion has won only 2 Battle Roads but to be honest,
it’s pretty good for a deck that isn’t that played and that is assumed to be
bad.

I’ll also take briefly a look at another Empoleon variant – Empoleon/Donphan
and compare it with Empoleon/Terrakion, we’ll see, which one deck is the better
choice in my opinion. I’ve tested Empoleon before my National pretty
extensively because I thought it had potential and as ironical as it sounds,
Hammertime had the most difficult time against Donphan/Empoleon (before I added
Tornadus EXs that is).

Thursday, June 14, 2012

I just finished my entrance exam and now need something to distract me from the
overthinking so here I go writing another entry once again. There is nothing like
Pokémon when it comes to taking the stressing thoughts out of my head. In today’s
entry I’ll discuss another Darkrai variant – Darkrai/Terrakion/Mewtwo EX.

After my Nationals victory the amount of Sableye/Darkrais increased everywhere
and for example in Germany’s top32, there were 8 Sableye/Darkrai variants. I
think they have been increasing in the U.S. Battle Roads’ as well. If you were
running list similar to mine and did well in a tournament, be sure to let me
know! I think before the Sableye/Darkrai entry, Terrakion/Darkrai/Mewtwo was
the most discussed one because it won both Argentinian and Norwegian Nationals.
And it’s no surprise that it won those tournaments because it’s a very strong
deck with good typing against the most popular decks of the current metagame.

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Today, I finally got the time to update the whole The Decklist Out! The most
important part is of course the new decks and “the hottest decks now” lists but
I also updated most of the old decks with the current sets’ cards. I haven’t
had the time to code the links to the respectful articles of those decks.
However, I’ll update the links as soon as I have time and I’ll start making the
entries of the Darkrai decks as requested.

Anyways, my entrance exams will be next Tuesday and I’ll be fully concentrating
on them from this moment on so there will be no entry on Monday. However, after
my exams are over, I’ll continue doing 2 entries per week. I guess I’ll keep
some time off from my blog before Worlds (2 weeks or so) so I have time to test
properly and have great time in Hawaii. After that it’s a whole new season,
format and lots and lots of things to analyze! I hope I can keep up with my
blog after August as well when I (hopefully) start my semester in my new
university. It’ll be busy for me but I’ll try to make it work.

I hope you enjoy the new update of The Decklist Out and that it’s useful for
you and other players as well in testing for Nationals! If you have any
comments, questions or requests about my blog and it’s future, feel free to
tell me in the comments, Facebook, Twitter or e-mail. Also, let me know if there is any typos in the decklists of The Decklist Out.

Once again, thanks for reading my blog and here is the updated version of The
Decklist Out. You can find it also from the Pages part of the blog.

Monday, June 4, 2012

I’ve gotten a load of questions regarding my Nationals
winning deck and now I had finally time to write an article about it. In this article I'll try to answer every question you have made about the deck. There are lots of
Darkrai variants out there and I can’t say that this is the best Darkrai
variant but I can easily say that this is equally good as the best ones out
there.

Darkrai EX variants have won all the official Nationals so far that are played
in the HGSS-DEX format (I think). They have also dominated like a dictator the
U.S. Battle Roads. I think I could do an own article about each different
variant of Darkrai EX and if you think that’s a good idea, just let me know and
I’ll do it. I think it’s already pretty clear that Darkrai EX is the best card
in the format and Darkrai variants are the best decks in the format. If you
haven’t yet gotten your Darkrais, and will attend Nationals or Worlds, get them
as soon as possible. If you aren’t going to Nationals or Worlds, don’t bother
getting Darkrai EXs just yet – they will be released in a tin box in autumn so
the price of Darkrai EX and Mewtwo EX will decrease a lot when the tin boxes
hit the store.

Thursday, May 31, 2012

I said that I tried to make an article of my Nationals
deck for today’ entry but fortunately hadn’t time for that. Because thank to
that I have a more interesting article for you today! As you could see from the
title, the following article isn’t written by me but the builder and player of
the most interesting deck of Finnish Nationals (Mismagius/Vileplume/teches). I
like to call the deck simply just Kumis.dec.

Anyways, Kumis will introduce himself in the article but first I want to say a
few words about him and his deck in the beginning. He always comes up with
great rogue decks in every single tournament and they are usually decks that
anyone can even think of. He is also the only person to eliminate me from
winning in the Finnish Nationals EVER. Ironically, this was in year 2008 when I
had my best finish in the World Championships (top8). There is nothing more I
need to say, so let me introduce you: Kumis and his Kumis.dec!

Monday, May 28, 2012

If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter, you already probably know it. Even if
you don’t follow me on Facebook or Twitter, you may still know it. Anyways, I WON
NATIONALS. For the 6th time to be exact. I know most of you are dying
to know about how my tournament went and what deck I played so I won’t bother
you with the introductions any more than necessary.

The deck I played was Darkrai EX/Tornadus EX. However, the list differs probably
from everything you have seen before and the deck fundamental strategy differs
from other Darkrai decks as well. I played the deck a lot and made the decision
to play it a long time ago. I won’t probably be playing it in the World
Championships because I would like to go rogue in the Worlds, so I don’t mind
giving the deck list for everyone. I hope you’ll have a great success with this
deck as I did and if you play it, it would be cool if you let me know about it
and how you did with it. E-mail, FB and Twitter are all easy ways to get touch
with me.

Anyways, let’s start the report. Here’s the final list, which won me a trip to
Hawaii. I like to call the deck “Hammertime”. As soon as you see the list, you
probably know why.

Monday, May 21, 2012

In today’s entry, I’ll just talk about random things
and this will also be the only entry of the week. The first reason for this is
that I’ll have my Nationals this weekend. The second reason for this is that I
just began my summer internship. And at the same time, I’ll need to read for my
entrance exams as well. So, yeah, I got lots to do.

I’ll playtesting heavily for Nationals this last week and I hope I can come up
with my 6th National Championship title after this weekend. I haven’t
decided my deck yet but I’m sure that whatever deck I’m choosing to Nationals,
I’ll comfortable with it. If you’re having Nationals in the next few weeks,
that’s something I recommend everyone doing – it doesn’t matter what you play –
as long as you’re comfortable with it.